Nobody for Me but You
by darkgirl11
Summary: When the Avengers get a distress call from a circus, they didn't know what to expect. The Avengers are taken one by one until only Clint is left and it's up to him to save them. The only thing is, Clint has to preform circus acts in order to get his friends back and if he fails, they'll die. But Clint's from the circus, this should be easy, right? Short story! CircusActs!Clint


_Nobody for Me but You_

 **Summary: When the Avengers get a distress call from a circus, they didn't know what to expect. The Avengers are taken one by one until only Clint is left and it's up to him to save them. The only thing is, Clint has to preform circus acts in order to get his friends back and if he fails, they'll die. But Clint's from the circus, this should be easy, right? Short story!**

Nobody for Me but You

Distress call from an abandoned circus? Well, that was new. As Clint flew the quinjet to their destination, he couldn't fight the uneasy feeling he got as they got closer and closer. Natasha could feel her "little brother" was uncomfortable with this mission, she was even uncomfortable with it. This had to be a trap of some sort. No abandoned circus can give out a distress call. Someone wanted them all here.

When they arrived, Clint put the quinjet down and slowly followed the others out. Six big circus tents were up. There were five blue tents set up around the biggest tent, a red one with a flag waving at the top. As they entered the red tent, lights came on and old circus music started playing. Everyone but Clint jumped when they heard the music, not used to hearing it or not expecting it.

The Avengers walked into the arena, Tony standing on top of the colorful pedestal and looking around for anything or anyone. A bowling pin rolled its way over to Thor, who picked it up and stared at it. He held it upside down and wondered aloud, "What is this? What does one do with such a weird object?"

Before anyone could say anything, the bottom of the bowling pin opened up and let out a gas that caused Thor to drop to the floor and lose consciousness. Before anyone could do anything, a whip shot out from behind a curtain and wrapped itself around Thor's leg and quickly dragged him behind the curtain. Steve grabbed his shield and took off in the direction of where Thor was dragged.

Natasha, Tony, and Clint huddled together in the ring trying to keep each other close. Natasha took a few steps over to the curtain, pulling out her gun when she heard a noise coming from behind it. The next thing she knew, Steve's shield rolled out and fell down a foot away from her. She picked up the shield and hurled it back at the curtain, making sure no one was behind it.

But the shield didn't make a noise and rolled right back to her again. She walked over to the curtain and yanked them apart but no one was there. A light flickered on behind another curtain, causing Natasha to cautiously walk over there. Natasha was out of Tony and Clint's range of sight so they slowly walked over to the curtain. They heard things fall and then they heard the female assassin scream.

"Nat!"

Clint ran in after her with Tony trailing behind him. When they pulled back the curtain, all they found was her gun on the ground. A frown etched itself on Clint's face as he reached down and picked up her gun. As Clint looked at the gun, he didn't notice that marionette strings came down and wrapped themselves around Tony and pulled him up without a sound. When Clint turned around, Tony was gone.

The archer looked all around him but couldn't find his best friend. He was all alone. Panicking on the inside, Clint ran out of the tent and opened up the quinjet to get Bruce. When he got inside, a bowling pin was sitting on the floor. Clint took a horrified step back, they took Bruce. Clint drew an arrow and walked back into the red tent. He had to find whoever took his friends and get rid of them. He needed to save his family.

"That little bow and arrow won't be necessary."

Clint shot an arrow in the direction in which he heard the voice, which was behind the curtain. The arrow was thrown back a foot away from him and a clown with a demented face stepped out from behind the curtains. He had all the clown makeup on but he drew himself a smile that almost resembled the one the Joker wore on his face. Clint was instantly disturbed by the clown but refused to show it.

The clown stepped onto the pedestal and said with a twisted smile, "You all fell right into my trap. I sent out that distress call to lure you all in and take each of you out. I intended to just get rid of all of you but then I heard about you. The little archer no one thinks should be an Avenger. I figured you would be fun to play with. Let's play a little game, Hawkeye, a game to get your team back."

Clint put his bow away and glared at the clown as he explained, "I have five blue tents outside. One of your teammates are in one of them. You can have your friends back if you can complete a circus act correctly but if you can't…" The clown laughed and made his way back to the curtain. He looked over his shoulder and smirked, "Well, I think you know what will happen if you fail."

The clown disappeared behind the curtain, leaving Clint all alone. He let out a frustrated sigh, he didn't want to have to relive his past but he had to if he wanted to save the others. Besides, this clown thought he couldn't do it. Clint smirked as he walked out of the red tent and over to a blue one. It was going to be nice watching the look on that clown's face when he found out there was more to Clint than meets the eye.

The blue tent was set up the same way the red one was, except the blue tent was a little smaller. The clown was waiting for him on the pedestal. Clint walked over and stood in front of the clown, waiting for the circus act he was going to have to do. The clown gave him a balance board and a cylinder shaped item and stated, "I'll start you off easy. You'll be doing the balance board act."

"Rola bola."

"What?"

"The balance board has a circus term. It's rola bola. You'd think a clown would know."

"Just do the act and fail."

Clint rolled his eyes and placed the board on top of the cylinder before carefully getting on top of it. Clint balanced on top of the cylinder faster and better than the clown had thought. Now Clint was perfectly balanced on it, making the clown's challenge look stupid. The clown grabbed clubs out of his sleeves and threw them at Clint, growling, "Juggle these while you're at it, hot shot."

The archer smirked and started to juggle five clubs at ease while maintaining perfect balance on the cylinder. After a few minutes, Clint grew bored with the clubs and threw them back at the clown. Before the clown could say anything, Clint jumped but while he jumped he flipped so that when he landed, he was using his hands to balance on the board. Clint even put his legs out, almost as if he was doing gymnastics moves while balancing.

"Enough! You pass… but the next act will be harder."

"I hope so because that was real boring."

The clown snapped his fingers and Bruce was lowered by a rope. Clint barely registered that the clown left as he ran to his friend. Clint untied Bruce and checked him over for any injuries and sighed in relief when he found none. Bruce grabbed the archer's hand and asked softly, "Where did you learn to do that, Clint?"

Clint pretended he didn't hear Bruce as he pulled the man out of the tent and into another one. The clown was waiting for him again at the pedestal. Bruce fidgeted awkwardly as the clown spoke to Clint, "Your last act was far too easy. Now, how well are you at riding a unicycle and spinning plates? It takes years of practice to be able to do both at the same time. Go on, do it."

A unicycle rolled out, followed by plates and sticks. How that happened, Clint didn't know and he wasn't about to find out how because he had a teammate to save. He grabbed the plates and sticks and hopped on the unicycle with ease. When Clint was sure he was ready, he took off riding the unicycle while spinning the plates on top of the sticks. Bruce stood there, amazed that Clint could do that without a problem like he did it before.

"I thought you said the next act would be harder."

"Let's see if you can make it out of the next act alive."

The clown snapped his fingers before disappearing again. Just like with Bruce, Thor was lowered by a rope. Clint moved to him and checked for injuries again, pleased that Thor was unharmed. When Clint tried to leave to the next tent, Thor grabbed his wrist and asked firmly, "Man of arrows, how were you able to perform such a task with no difficulty? Such a task must be hard."

Clint just shrugged and pulled him and Bruce to the next tent. The clown was waiting where he was last time but a lion was circling around the pedestal. Clint put a hand out to stop Thor and Bruce from following him. They stayed near the entrance and watched as the clown motioned for the lion to go near Clint, smirking, "You had it easy the other two times. Why don't you try to tame a lion?"

The archer remained calm as the big cat came closer to him, growling at him like he was a threat. Clint sighed before lowering himself and making clicking noises. The lion stopped its approach on him, giving Clint time to look around and spot a stick for spinning plates lying on the ground. Continuing to make the clicking noises, Clint slowly made his way to the stick and grabbed it.

The lion eyed the archer carefully and was about to pounce on him when Clint moved the stick around in front of the big cat, catching its attention. Clint put the end of the stick on the ground in front of the lion and moved it around, smiling as the lion lunged and pounced at the stick like a cat would to one of those toys on the string. The clown was seething in rage, how did Clint know how to tame a lion like that?

Thor laughed loudly when he saw Clint instruct the lay down so he could rub its stomach. Bruce found himself shaking his head with a smile when he saw the lion grab Clint with a paw and lick his face. Clint was laughing when he ran his hands through the lion's mane and received licks from the lion in return. The archer got up and massaged the lion's feet, earning whines of pleasure from the big cat.

"I've seen enough. Be ready for the next act for it will be-"

"Yeah, okay, shaking in fear here. Bye."

The clown growled and snapped his fingers before vanishing again. This time, Natasha was lowered. He sprinted to her and checked her over to make sure she was okay. When she was untied, she slapped his hands away gently, letting him know that she was unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief when she didn't ask him how he could tame a lion. Even she didn't know he could do that.

Clint walked over to the lion, which stood up when he came over, and climbed onto its back. The lion roared before taking off in the direction of another tent with the other three Avengers trailing after them. When Clint and the lion arrived in the next tent, he got off the big cat and earned a slap to the back of the head by Natasha for not waiting for the rest of them.

The clown was waiting on the pedestal like Clint knew he would be. Clint got a lick from the lion again, almost as if the animal was telling him to be careful. The archer ran a hand through the lion's mane before whispering to the big cat, "Keep them safe, okay?" The lion have a slight growl in return, causing Clint to nod before walking over to the clown.

When Clint was in front of the man, the clown pointed up. He looked up as well to see everything needed for a trapeze act up there and, wait, were those rings? The clown glared at the archer as he described the next act, "For this one, it'll be your basic trapeze act but you'll have to jump through the rings that are hanging up there. Make it through five rings and you pass."

Clint nodded and walked over to the ladder that would take him up to the first trapeze bar. He grabbed the bar and backed up, making sure he would be able to get through the ring and make it to the next bar. He took a deep breath before running and jumping forward. Everyone, but Natasha, held their breath as they watched him jump through the first ring and grab the next bar.

The way Clint swung himself and through himself through the next ring looked so graceful, as if he had done it before. Clint closed his eyes as he swung himself through the third ring, feeling at ease with himself before opening his eyes to grab the next bar. Feeling daring, Clint smirked as he twisted himself around through the fourth ring and grabbed the next trapeze bar backwards.

The clown smirked, no one could get through the ring backwards so Clint had basically screwed himself. But, the clown's jaw dropped when Clint was able to get through the ring and even latch onto the last bar with his legs. Natasha shook her head and smiled while Thor cheered loudly and Bruce stood there, astonished by the performance. Clint swung himself back to the ladder and climbed down it, smiling as he came back to his friends.

"Your last act will be the hardest one yet."

"Will it actually be hard or what?"

The clown snapped his fingers angrily before storming out of the tent. Clint grinned when he saw Tony get lowered down this time. Clint rushed to him and freed him from the rope but wondered why Tony didn't free himself from the rope since he still had his suit on. When he removed Tony's mask, he realized that his best friend was unconscious. Oh, that's why he didn't break free.

Clint dragged him over to the others, handing Tony to Thor to carry so he could hop on the lion's back and get carried to the last tent. Steve was the last one. Clint let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding as they all made their way into the last tent. Clint stroked the lion's mane when he got off, the big cat leaned into the touch and watched as the archer walked over to the clown.

Lights flashed on above them and focused on a tightrope act. This was one of the hardest acts in the circus but it was one of Clint's favorites. The clown had a crazy look in his eyes and he laughed like a maniac, "For Hawkeye's final act, you will walk the tight rope over a sea of fire! One wrong move and you're done for, along with your precious leader, Captain America!"

Clint shot him a dirty look before walking over to the ladder and watched as everything under him burst into flames. He wasn't scared, though. It actually thrilled him. He could feel his adrenaline rushing as he took off his boots and socks and stepped onto the tightrope. As he carefully moved forward, all these memories from his childhood flooded through his mind.

He smiled to himself, remembering the first time he made it across the tightrope. They had told him he was a natural at it. It only took him three tries before he could do it just as well as the person who had been doing it for years. He chuckled to himself, remembering the first time he used only his hands on the tightrope. He loved the tightrope just as much as he loved shooting arrows and throwing knives.

Before he knew it, he had made it to the other side. The clown was utterly surprised, Clint walked on the tightrope like it was nothing. Clint looked back at the tightrope and smiled before he did what no one expected him to do: he cartwheeled back to the other side on the tightrope. Clint bowed for everyone before putting his socks and boots on and climbing down the ladder.

He marched over to the clown and took out his bow and arrow, aiming at the man who held his family hostage. The clown snapped his fingers and Steve came down in front of the other Avengers and the lion. The clown stepped back but when he did, he fell off of the pedestal and onto his back. If looks could kill, the glare Clint was giving the other man could have killed him over and over again.

The clown crawled backwards and when he did, Clint kept moving forwards. The clown refused to take his eyes off of Clint as he cried, "Y-You can't be able to do all of those acts! You can't! You shouldn't be able to do any of that! Y-You're just an archer!" Clint put his bow and arrow away before grabbing the clown by the throat and dragging him behind the curtain.

The Avengers could hear the sound of something locking and then they saw Clint pushing out a spinning wheel with the clown locked into it. Clint stood in front of the man on the wheel before taking steps back until he was a good distance away from him. Clint pulled out some throwing knives before he turned to the others and asked with a wicked grin, "Natasha, care to be my lovely assistant? I need some help because _clearly_ I'm just an archer."

"It'd be my genuine pleasure."

She walked over to the wheel and gave it a good spin. Clint faced the wheel and threw the knives at the wheel, each one getting closer and closer to cutting or stabbing the clown. The man on the wheel had his eyes closed, too afraid to watch a knife get stabbed into his body. But he felt no pain. When he opened his eyes, he jumped in surprise because Clint was a foot away from his face.

The archer was pulling the knives out of the wheel as he hissed, "I'm not just some fucking archer, bitch. I used to go by 'The Amazing Hawkeye' and I was pretty famous in the circus. If you're as clown as you play off, then maybe you've heard of me, bitch." The clown was shaking, of course he had heard of The Amazing Hawkeye. He was practically a circus legend.

"Y-You're The Amazing Hawkeye? I didn't know! I thought you were someone trying to be him!"

"I'm Hawkeye. I have a bow and arrow. Who the fuck else could I be?"

"You-you curse a lot, you know?"

"Cause I'm pissed off, mother fucker."

Clint put a knife up to the clown's throat and whispered darkly into his ear, "You took my family. That makes me _very_ angry. You're lucky I haven't killed you, yet. I can't let you walk away from this freely. You need to pay for what you've done and what you tried to do. I'm with the Avengers for a reason… I never miss. And the next knife I throw won't purposely miss my target."

The clown was begging Clint not to kill him as the archer moved back to where he was. Clint aimed and launched the knife at the clown. The next thing they knew, the knife was lodged in the man's chest. The clown looked down at the wound, watching as the blood seemed to just pour out of him. His vision was fading but he managed to see Clint come over to him and whisper in his ear.

"Caw, caw, mother fucker."

He died right there on the wheel. Clint retrieved his throwing knives and put them back to where they belonged as he and Natasha walked back to everyone else. Everyone was practically horrified by what Clint did but then again, the clown did deserve it since he was going to kill all of them if Clint didn't pass on the circus acts. Circus acts… that reminded them…

Before Steve could ask Clint why he didn't tell them about the circus, Clint was already explaining, "I didn't want you all to know I basically came from the circus because, well, it wasn't always the best of times there. Sure, I got to learn how to do all the acts and I became this great archer but… I got beat up a lot, too. The circus isn't all that it seems. In front of people, everything looks great but if you open the curtains after the show… different story."

"Other acts would get jealous of me because I was this little orphan taking their spotlight because I was better than them. I'd get beaten up by jealous acts when no one was looking. And the rule for archery was if you miss, no food and a beating. If I made my shot then my reward would be food and no beating. So, that's one of the other reasons why I never miss."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow, curious so he asked, "Why else don't you miss?" Clint ran a hand through his hair before he answered softly, "I can't miss. I'm on a team with super-humans and one god, in case you've forgotten. I gave up a lot for this life. I could have been happy doing something else or stuck still being in the circus as The Amazing Hawkeye but I wanted to play with the big boys…"

Clint shook his head, a sad smile on his face and tears shining in his eyes as he continued with sadness almost dripping in his voice, "And if I miss, it means I'm just another guy with a bow. It means I've been fooling myself this whole time…" He blinked the tears away before he whispered just loud enough for them to hear, "And that's why I never miss."

Tony walked over to his best friend and hugged him, but made sure he wasn't crushing the archer since he still had his suit on. Clint rested his head on Tony's shoulder as the genius murmured, "You're not just another guy with a bow… not to me and not to anyone else on this team. You're irreplaceable, Clint. You're so much more than a guy with a bow. You're my best friend. There's nobody else out there for me but you. Do you know your place on the team?"

When Clint didn't answer, Tony pulled away from him but kept his hands on the archer's shoulders as he said firmly, "You are the God damn heart and soul of this team. Why else do you think we all work so well together? It's because of you. You keep us together. You've got so much sass and sarcasm but somehow, you're the one that keeps us sane. You're the one who keeps _me_ sane and going."

Natasha came over and brushed Tony's hands off Clint's shoulders so she could replace them with her own. Her voice was emotionless but her eyes were soft as she said, "We're partners. I need you as much as you need me. I know you. You're not just another guy with a bow. Nobody else can do what you did today perfectly like you did. There's nobody else out there for me but you."

Did she just say what Tony said before? Before he could say anything, Bruce put a hand on his shoulder. Natasha removed her hands and smiled when Bruce said honestly to Clint, "You're the only thing Hulk loves more than anything. He'd do anything for you because he knows you're more than a guy with a bow. I'd do anything for you, Clint, because there's nobody else out there for me but you."

Clint looked around, why were they all saying that? Thor walked over, causing Bruce to take a step back. Clint couldn't help but smile when Thor picked him up and hugged him saying, "Clint, you possess one of the purest hearts I've ever seen and I would take on anyone who says you're just a man of arrows. Where I would be without you is unquestionable because there's nobody else out there for me but you."

Even Thor? The god released him and that's when Steve was standing there in front of him. Clint looked into those baby blue eyes and understood why they all kept saying that to him. He was irreplaceable. He played a much bigger role in their lives than he thought. He wasn't just some kid from the circus or some guy with a bow. He was so much more. Steve smiled as he stated, "There's nobody out there for me but you."

Clint smiled and wrapped his arms around Steve's neck, surprising the soldier at first but he wrapped his arms around Clint's waist in return and held him close. The next thing they knew, the others had joined in for an Avengers group hug. But then, a large mass of weight was on them, sending them to the ground. Clint felt something lick his face and that's when he realized it was the lion. He grinned at Steve and gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"Can I keep him?"

 _ **DONE!**_ **I don't really know what this is or where it came from but I really just wanted to do something with Clint having to go back to the circus because I feel like there aren't a whole lot of fics out there making Clint go back to happy/bad times in the circus. And plus I just wanted everyone to show Clint he's not just some guy with a bow. Sorry for any mistakes!**

 _ **ALSO!**_ _Clint's little speech about why he never misses is actually in a comic, I think! I just got that quote off of tumblr!_ __

 _ **AND!**_ _The whole "There's nobody out there for me but you" thing everyone kept saying to Clint was inspired by Hopsin's song, "My Love" where he says, "Ain't nobody else in the world that's out there for you but me."_

 _ **Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review! Thanks for everything!**_


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